TALK - Artistic Explorations of the Himalaya

Artistic Explorations of the Himalaya

Speaker: Dr Vladimir Zaitsev, art historian, curator and museologist
The talk traces the centuries-long history of visual artists’ engagements with the mountainous regions of northern India, Nepal and Tibet, including early European efforts to visually document borderland terrains, flora, fauna and cultures.

Himalayan Landscapes as Portals to Transcendence: A Personal Account of Sublime Visuality in Geographic Exploration
Speaker: Dr Vaibhav Kaul, mountain geographer and multidisciplinary artist
Drawing from two decades of visual and audiovisual documentation in the Himalaya, the talk explores the aesthetic, emotional and contemplative dimensions of geographic field research in remote mountain landscapes.

Followed by a Film Screening 
Mountain, Priest, Son
(27 minutes; 2018; Hindi with English subtitles)
Directed by John Seddon and Vaibhav Kaul

Set in one of India’s most sacred and geologically fragile mountain regions, the documentary explores vulnerability, resilience and changing belief systems through the lives of a priest and his family who survived a devastating flood.

The talks and film screening are being held in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Glacial Mothers: The Numinous Realms of Annapurna and Nanda Devi’, featuring artworks by Vaibhav Kaul, on view at the Annexe Art Gallery.